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THE LEGAL CRIME, 



99 




CAPITAL 

fcTTS. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by J. J. Rky 
Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 






iBYNpLtts, in the Ollica ot the 



PROLOGUE. 



WE AEE CKUCIFED by the intolerant, presump- 
tuous, pedantic theories and claims of scientific poli- 
tical economists, or, in other words, "MONOPOLISTS." 

The various governments, which have to the present 
date, temporarily disturbed society, have failed to secure 
to the masses even a pretext for independence. 

Laws which are claimed to be framed in the accumulated 
wisdom, and virtue, and experience, of nearly seven 
thousand years, merely serve to hold an immense majority 
of the People in subjection to intelligent, avaricious and 
wealthy minority. 

Money, the Press, the Church, and State do this in- 
famous work, under the title of " Public Security," but 
which in fact is "a Despotic Monopoly," "a Legal Curse." 
This extraordinary and outrageous burthen placed upon 
the bone and sinew of humanity by law, proves that the 
People are effectively 

CURSED BY LAW. 

We are now attacking those venerated authorities which 
have hoodwinked a credulous and badly informed People 
since the beginning of thought. 

Let these authorities look down upon us from the high 
throne of their self appreciation, which we dispise. 
When we inform them that their theories, speculations 
and failures, have capped the climax of forebearance, 
and fallen beneath our contempt, perhaps, may they 
appreciate the objection we experience in submitting any 
longer to their system of jurisprudence and government. 

The People are tired of being dissected by these wise 
men and crushed by the very value they, the People 
create. 

"A PARABLE/' 

A man whose brother had been experimented upon by 
the faculty of scientific surgery until it became necessary 
to employ an undertaker, accosted the faculty in these 
terms ''Gentlemen, you may boast of the experience, the 

science, the wisdom, of your theories, but d n them, 

they kill." There is a moral, for past and present laws and 
their administration, they are despotio,ineffective in a sense, 
confusing, and partial, which we will prove. 



THE 



"Legal Crime," 



-P 1 * 



"Cursed By Law,- 



BY AMEEICUS. 



CHAPTER FIRST. 

Fellow citizens, beware of preachers, beware of judges, 
beware of bankers, beware of presidents, beware of the 
press. There is a formidable combination of the clerical, 
official, financial and editorial authorities in this 
country, which has effectually disfranchised you, and which 
will finally crush you entirely, if you continue plodding 
along in your usual indifferent manner. 

The government, the capitalist, the press and the 
church are ready to swallow you up. 

Awake People ! to the realization of your actual situa- 
tion, fan not yourselves with vain anticipations of relief, 
you will obtain none while the existing laivs remain un- 
changed. You must repeal some of them and enact new 
laws. 

The People are composed of two distinct elements. 
The producing element or creator of value, and the trad- 
ing or speculating element. 

The first constitutes about 75 per cent of the population ; 
the second, a shrewd and powerful minority, that governs 
inexorably. 

The world since the commencement of knowledge has 
been influenced principally by three great powers which 
have changed in grade according to the degree of civil- 
ization and progress attained — 

Under the Barbarous System. 

Physical force ranked No. 1. 
Imagination or religion No. 2. 
Wealth or money No. 3. 

Under the Civilized System. 
Imagination or faith No. 1. 



Wealth or money No. 2. 
Physical force No. 3. And under 

The Enlightened or the Present System. 

Money ranks No. 1. 

Religion No. 2. 

Physical force No. 3. 

The stronger the money power the weaker all the others. 

We may fairly conclude that money is by far the strong- 
est power, when centralized it is almost omnipotent 
and is a LEGAL CUESE. Our intention is to attack the 
laws that encourages centralization in this country. 
These laws were enacted through ignorance or for the 
purpose, as we are inclined to believe, of holding the 
People in perpetual servitude to an aristocracy. 

THE SOVEREIGN POWERS OF THE PRESENT ARE 

Money, No. 1 ; Religion or Imagination, No. 2 ; Physical 
Force, No. 3 ; Common Sense, No. 4 ; High Philosophy, 
one case in ten thousand. 

After an experience of about 6,841 years, the world has 
come to the conclusion that minorities and majorities have 
been playing a perpetual game of " see-saw," in which 
the minority has almost invariably succeeded in placing 
certain artificial weights on its side to turn the board in 
its favor, to the disadvantage of a great clumsy majority, 
that "grins and bears it." That is the history of the 
world in a few words. 

People laugh at us when we tell them all this, and they 
say, " What are you going to do about it ?" this : 

We are going to show that up to the present time, no 
laws have been adopted that can afford security to the 
masses. We are going to prove that those authorities 
that made the laws did not intend to protect the masses, 
because they did not deem it judicious to favor that side 
at their expense. We are going to show that those 
authorities seat themselves in form, and are not elected 
by the people, which is conclusive evidence that the people 
have nothing to do with the laws, nor their admin- 
istration. They merely submit. In showing these facts, 
we do not propose to consult the interest of the monopo- 
list, who has proved to be, to the present time, an un- 
avoidable and distressing imposition. 

Our critics will please notice that we recognize the 
right of all men to monopolize what they can. But, at 
the same time, we will insist upon having protective laws 
that will counterbalance the monopolists' excessive power. 
By imposing upon him the bulk of governmental expen- 



ditures, thus forcing the monopolist to advocate economy 
in the government, instead of his efforts to incite extra- 
vagance, which suits his purposes for speculation under 
the present laws. 

Men have an unquestionable right to make all they can 
in any way not dishonest. We will never dispute that, 
though, no doubt, some of our opponents will advance 
that " we intend to erect a barrier against monopoly that 
will take care of itself." What we do propose to effect is, 
to compel accummulated wealth to pay a just tax toward 
the support of the government, which duty it at present 
avoids in a variety of ways, and backed by unjust laws. 
We propose to remove the protective tariffs, and thus 
cease conferring an exceptionally personal favor upon a 
few monopolists at the People's expense. 

Our manufactures and industries must be stimulated by 
a wholesome competition with the world's, and not by an 
unjust favoritism, encouraging high prices for indifferent 
productions. That protective tariff sounds too much like 
the voice of one man in a crowd. It does not benefit the 
People. It is exclusive, unfair, unpatriotic, unconstitu- 
tional ; it breeds centralization and abuse of power. 

The People now want a chance. You say they do not 
know how to understand their interests. (Have you?) 
They cannot place themselves in a worse position than 
you have fixed for them, and, besides they will not con- 
sult you this time. 

So step down and out. 

We have enough of you. 

We have an undigested sufficiency of you. 

You have swindled the People. 

Your time is up ; pass on. 

The People will govern you now. 

Oh ! ye wisdoms, ye incomprehensible intellects, that 
have stood before us as champions of justice, what have 
ye done for the People ? Ye have ruined them — nothing 
short of it. Ah ! you say that the experiment has been 
tried, that the masses have invariably proved themselves 
incompetent to govern. That is not the case ! 

The masses have never been favored with an opportun- 
ity to try the experiment. Why ? 

Because the people have never been protected by laws 
which permitted them to work to their advantage. 

You have enacted laws calculated to deceive, entrap 
and ruin the people and enrich yourselves. And that we 
are going to prove. 

Yes, we will face the sarcasm of the world, and speak of 
facts that are indisputable. What everybody knows, 
" Monopoly is a Legal Curse." 



All mental and physical acquirements are progressive. 
Improvement begets improvement. Mental and physical 
labor are the only creators of value. Fortune is a blind 
and ignorant speculation. Disease touches its victims in- 
discriminately. 

So far, equality before the law has proved a cruel de- 
ception to the People, a laughing spectre that ridi- 
cules civil rights. Those mentally, physically, or pecuni- 
arilly favored, alone are free. To the present time, no 
law has been independent of human influences, such as 
prejudices, preferences and avarice. 

The right of might is sovereign. 

You can't borrow without security. 

Centralization of power implies a relative impoverish- 
ment of the masses. 

Monopoly is the antipode of competition, and competi- 
tion is the basis of civil rights. 

Economy is indispensable to prosperity, and extrava- 
gance consumes all forces. 

How is it, then, that knowing all this, we still continue 
to grope in the dark ? 

This is the riddle that will occupy us. 

MONOPOLY, OE CUESED BY LAW. 

There is a monster known by the name of " Monopoly," 
that has from the beginning of all time, fed upon the fat 
of the land. Its size and shape has varied according to 
diet. 

The monster we represent in the frontispiece of this 
book is of American birth. When young, it was about 
the size of a small toad, but in the course of a century it 
has assumed prodigious proportions, and has changed 
from a toad to a monster. This metamorphosis we will 
explain hereinafter. "This legal curse," 

THIS SOCIAL VAMPIEE, MONOPOLY, 

here described has four immense arms that resemble sea- 
serpents'. It has a huge belly and a ghastly head. At 
the end of each arm there is a grasping hand, indicating 
its relation to man. The figure which is being crushed by 
the arms of " Monopoly " is LABOE. 

The arms of this vampire are : 1st, the official power ; 
2d, the financial power ; 3d, the journalistic or editorial 
power ; 4th, the clerical or the church. 

This vampire is prolific, and its progeniture has accum- 
mulated to a fearful extent. The present one was 
raised and petted by the Eepublican Party, and is now 
about eighteen years old. Grant used to take care of it ; 
now Hayes does. 



LABOE AND CAPITAL. 

Passing over the multitudinous failures that character- 
ize the governmental experiments of the world since the 
commencement, we will consider the one which closes our 
efforts in the science of political economy after one hun- 
dred years of speculation, and show what the American 
system has done in the interests of the monopolists, and 
what it has not done in the interests of the People. 

A conservative Democracy, such as proposed or imagined 
by the framers of our laws, continues to be a myth to 
the political world. What was intended and what is ac- 
complished being antipodes. 

In the beginning, the producing element, or creator of 
value was esteemed as the main support of the govern- 
ment, and respected as such. Now the trading element or 
monopolist enjoys that position, the producing element 
having degenerated in governmental appreciation to the 
limit of serfdom, which we will prove. 

Through a variety of shrewd schemes, the agent or 
factor has taken the reins of government out of the hands 
of the People, and he manages the ribbons with a high 
hand and an insolent air. 

After a successful debut, this young republic found it- 
self growing in prosperity, and smiled upon its good for- 
tune. 

Then all at once a few specimens of the Shylock tribe 
from the Eastern States discovered that from fifty to 
one hundred per cent, more could be made by trading 
in productions than in creating them, the consequence 
of which drove many an enterprising producer from 
the fields, mines and workshops, to the exchanges, where 
he could earn an easier and more profitable livelihood. 

Of course, there was a demand for agencies, and men 
flocked to the exchanges to speculate. Large fortunes 
were accummulated by these agents, and in proportion to 
the centralization of financial power, so did the commis- 
sions increase. Where the producer sold his material for 
10 cents, the consumer paid one dollar for it, the 90 cents 
being swallowed by two or more speculators and the 
taxes, and the greater the population of agents, of course 
the more hands an article had to pass through before 
reaching the consumer. All these ambitious idlers, these 
speculators, must earn a comfortable living. Then the 
time came when the producer, impoverished by this sys- 
tem, and falling behind in his accounts, which he usually 
kept badly, found himself compelled to borrow at a high 
rate of interest from the agent, giving a mortgage on his 
property as security for the loan. The finale is readily 
imagined. Very soon the producer became a mere serf to 



g 

the capitalist. Now, the capitalist, or agent, not being 
satisfied with grinding the producer to the dust and accu- 
mulating a large fortune, found his appetite for profit 
grow in proportion to the growth of his belly. As the 
producer was ruined, the agent turned his covetous eyes 
in the direction of the consumer. Hence, the protective 
tariff system operated through special legislation in the 
interest of capital, and against the producer and the peo- 
ple at large. In a short time, prudence abandoned the 
agent, and the producer began to strike, and the consumer 
began to grumble. So we find now. The producer, the 
agent and the consumer entirely devoid of common sense, 
laying siege, or fighting, or doing nothing, each of which 
operation tends to make matters worse. Capital has been 
unreasonable, unjust, despotic, insane. Labor has been 
generous, careless, swindled, ruined, then desperate. 
They are all wrong, but the agent started the game of 
cheat, and is most to blame. 

The worst of all this is, the rapid growth of extrava- 
gance and a consequent increasing demand for money when 
the producing machine of the country has been materially 
damaged. 

Taxes are imposed, money is borrowed at a high rate 
of interest, and a half-starved producing element finds 
itself compelled to eat dirt, and pay interest on the money 
out of which it has been gradually swindled by law, the 
capitalist avoiding taxation by a variety of subterfuges 
familiar to experts in the monopoly trade. 

This condition of affairs explains the dilemma in which 
" we, the People of the United States, to secure domestic 
happiness and other eminent blessings," have finally 
placed ourselves. 

Having briefly described the manner in which the factor 
ruins the producer, and how the laws assist in this outrage, 
our task is merely begun, for a criticism that bears no 
remedy, is like pouring boiling oil on a raw wound. The 
oil should be cool ; so should our judgment. 

What we want to do is, to repeal all laws that oppress 
the People, and not wait to let them die of their innate 
rottenness. 

Then we will enact new laws, which, without governing 
ambition, vanity, avarice, and other deformities, will at 
last prevent those vices from disfranchising a People, who 
have yet some claims as human beings. 



10 
CHAPTER SECOND. 

The " PEOPLE " CAN BE SOVEREIGN npon the 

following conditions only : 

THE TWELVE COMMANDMENTS OF A CONSER- 
VATIVE DEMOCRACY. 

First. 
National Legislation shall be strictly limited to the 
requirements of the People, rs~ a universal and collectiyb 

SENSE. 

fe_ W^~' Second. 

The law shall respect individual eights, as the individ- 
ual shall respect the rights of the public. 

Third. 
The national and local Representative Houses, will ap- 
point a public-law committee, to give legal assistance to 
citizens who are proved to be impecunious. 

Fourth. 
The Church, and state, the military and civil authorities 
shall have no relations with each other. 

Fifth. 
No citizen will be permitted to vote who cannot at the 
polls, declare a principle or principles which his vote is 
intended to support. There shall be no secrecy at the 
ballot-box. 

Sixth. 
All citizens shall be compelled to deposit their vote, 
under heavy penalty. Fraud at an election will be pun- 
ished by the disfranchisement of the guilty parties for a 
term of twenty years. 

Seventh. 
No person holding a position of trust under the govern- 
ment, SHALL VOTE OR LNTLUENCE POLITICS DURING HIS TENURE 

OF office, under penalty of discharge. 

Eighth. 
Taxation will be divided into two classes ; 1st, All taxa- 
ble MATERIAL THAT IS NECESSARY TO THE COMFORTS OF LIFE. 

2d, All taxable material that is not necessary to the 
comforts of LLFE. The former shall be taxed fifty per cent, 
less than the latter. 

Ninth. 

The national and local governments will issue a weekly 
journal for the people, at a fair price. This journal 
will give full and correct accounts of all government trans- 
actions. 

Tenth. 

At the primary elections, a committee of five will be 



11 

appointed as judges, to watch the conduct of theie rep- 
resentative in congress, and recall him if necessary. At 
the elections A lieutenant will be elected to replace an 
objectionable representative if recalled. 

Eleventh. 
Money shall be stamped, valued and issued by the gov- 
ernment alone. Its face shall indicate its permanent 
value, and its intrinsic worth shall not affect its purchas- 
ing qualities at any time. 

Twelfth. 
. No citizen of the United States shall bear A title or 
mark of distinction such as honorable, excellency, your 
honor, &c. 

If the above commandments are not valuable, they are 
at least entirely new. We presume no one will deny that. 

We believe that no Eepublic can stand for any length 
of time unless laws such as we here suggest or as near to 
them as possible, are adopted. And we attribute the 
short life of Republics to the absence of such laws. 

We cannot trust the government in a blind, unintelli- 
gent manner without corrupting both it and the People. 

We must therefore so arrange our laws that occasion 
for transgressions will seldom occur. We must so man- 
age our finances that monopoly will, if it exists, pay 
its share of tax. We must, in short, place the govern- 
ment upon an honest foundation; one that will per- 
mit GENIUS, TALENT AND LABOR TO LIVE RESPECTABLY, and 

not be as it is to-day, a menial slave to the money power, 
monopoly, or the '? legal curse " of this country. We 
reiterate, that so far as history can prove, the laws we ad- 
vance are entirely new, and never have been adopted 
by any government. 

Arguments on 1st, 2d and 3d Commandments. 

Nature has so constituted man. Society governs him 
in such a despotic manner that he is in constant 

NEED OF ASSISTANCE. HlS NEIGHBOR WELL NOT HELP HIM, 

THE law must. Not only do the laws fail to render this 
assistance to the citizen, but they are absolutely framed 
as though there was but the monopolist to be considered. 
Verdicts are manufactured, and decisions are rendered 
in a manner to suit the paymaster. He who has no mon- 
ey may have a claim as good as virtue, he will never get 
justice because he can't pay for it, and the producing ele- 
ment, which is the impecunious element, is a mere pack 
mule carrying its own property for the benefit of monop- 
oly. 



12 

We need not point out the causes which place the citi- 
zen in constant need of legal assistance, the whims of for- 
tune, afflictions, both mental and physical, and the deforma- 
ties of humanity suggest it eloquently. 

The citizen needs protection, he is entitled to it, he 
pays for it, he gets it not. Why ? because as we have 

Said, THE BIGHT OF MIGHT DOES NOT SO DECIDE. 

The law is too complicated, there is too much special 

law, IF YOU WANT A FAIR AGREEMENT, CUT IT SH0RT- 

If you want to be swindled, employ one of those 
distinguished lawyers, he with a long serious face, indicat- 
ing much wisdom, they say, wisdom acquired by years of 
reading opinions on past transgressions, and past modes 
of treating them ; these mighty intellects, that cannot think 
outside the law with which their mind is crammed, will 
write you up a thousand volumes to prove that you have 
certain rights worthy of the laws consideration. Now 
these great lights, these mentors to the ordinary 
layman, are pleased to grant an opinion, that costs 

THE LAYMAN MORE THAN HE CAN PAY. 

We declare that this mountain of accumulated jurispru- 
dence, that they make out of a mole hill of plain common 
sense, is objectionable. We want little of it ! 

The popular standard of intelligence in this country is 
amply sufficient to enable the ordinary mortal to under- 
stand that a fifty cent silver piece is not fair change for 

A DOLLAR GREENBACK. 

Let those brilliant intellects, such as found the ellector- 
al commission verdict, revel in their self-appraisements, 
let them stuff their minds with law and digest it if they 
can. The People want little of it, and will not begrudge 
them in that diet 

The People want less law and more justice ; less confu- 
sion of ideas ; more plain, cheap thought ; economy should 
be the order of the d ay in all pursuits. 

The law as it is understood and executed at the present 
day, does not inquire into the merits of a claim, it merely 
asks " what is the plaintiff worth ? " The advantages of 
suffrage are imaginary when justice is thus bought and 
sold. Great authorities and a credulous public make tyr- 
anny a fashionable commerce. 

Men are loo willing to submit to an apparent superiorly, 
were they to examine more closely the object of their ad- 
miration, respect or veneration, they would discover in it 
more to despised than to venerate. 

On the other hand, these so called authorities take good 
care to preach incomprehensibilities, so that the People may 
be confused, and credit arguments which they (the 



13 

People) know not how to oppose, thus the People actually 
sign their death warrant in the dark. 

If you want to have your pockets picked, get into a crowd. 

If you icant to be swindled, follow a lawyer through a crowd 
of ideas. 

Confusion is the rogue's assistant. 

Political and religious demagogues have recourse to it 
to effect their purpose, and the People are duped. 

A good plan would be to ostracize any man who had once 
deceived the People, in that way we would gradually weed out 
spurious political vegetation. 

We conclude, 1st, that there are too many laws, and 
superfluous and special legislation ; 2d, that only a small 
portion of the people are really benefited or protected by the 
laws in existence ; 3d, that the laws trespass upon individ- 
ual rights unjustly, despotically. Therefore the poor citi- 
zen not only cannot be protected against imposition, but 
he cannot be respected in his own quiet privacy, the law, 
therefore, is both a traitor and a tyrant — it is a traitor because 
it betrays the people, it is a tyrant because it oppresses 
them. 

Take for instance the Sunday Prohibition Law, another 
abortion of special legislation, that law imposes upon citi- 
zens, for " religious motives," restrictions upon their 
persons and property in a most insolent manner. If the 
law can do that, we wovld impeach it as an outrage. 

The citizen has certain rights that the law shall 
not question, and neither religion nor any other pre- 
text can warrant an infringement by the law upon a patent 
that is born with the man, which is, the right to his own con- 
victions. 

We do not mention the people who uphold such des- 
potism, because we consider them on a par ™ith the Com- 
munists, both advocating infringement of individual 
rights, both are fanatics, both are insignificant. Laws 
should avoid trespassing upon the sacred domain of civil 
rights ; religious, moral and, political ideas are not to be dealt 
out to the People by the administration. 

Some will say, well the majority of the people advocate 
the Sunday prohibition law, admitting that which is not 
the case. If 90 per cent, of the People wanted the bal- 
ance to go to a certain church, they would have no better 
right to march the minority to church at the point of the 
bayonet, than they have now to enforce the present outrage, 
which they are pleased to call a law. 

The people are absolutely crushed, sat upon, by a mi- 
nority, but were it a majority it would be quite as bad. 

No ! the first desideratum in law is its impartiality. 
As we have said, the law must protect the individual 



14 

against monopolie cf all descriptions, if it does not, 
it fails to accomplish the purpose for which law is in- 
tended. 

It is obvious that monopolies can take care of them- 
selves, therefore they do not require the law to insure 
them their rights, and even more than their rights as we have 
seen, but the citizen standing alone in a crowd, that is the 
object for which law was instituted and which the law to- 
day ignores completely. 

COMMUNISM OK SOCIALISTIC PRINCIPLES, 

We have before us a journal which is the authority in 
this country for Communism. We have examined 
its doctrines, and pronounce them entirely antagonistic to 
the producing element, and devoid of the simplest instinct 
of self preservation. Why these men who are crushed 
by monopoly desire to organize an other one infinitely 
more powerful, more despotic, is a pertinent inquiry. We 
give a few of their principles : What do they mean by 
compelling a man to work eight hours ? Truly is not this 
despotism. Supposing we choose to work 24 ; do they 
presume to control our wages also ; and pay the same 
to the expert that they pay to the apprentice ? Come, 
now, this is superlatively idiotic. Ah! it seems that 
these Communists want to abolish the wages system 
and substitute in its stead co-operative production 
with a just (mark that word, just) distribution of 
its rewards. Who is to be the judge of this just 
distribution of rewards, that is the question? The gov- 
ernment ? if so, we the People would give the government 
a power it has never, even in its most extravagant dreams 
of despotism, imagined it could assume. But we find 
these men advocating certain reforms which really show 
that they aim toward the improvement of the masses. Un- 
fortunately, however, three-quarters of their suggestions 
annihilate the balance. The evident gist of their system 
is to make of the government a mutual insurance company, 
which would nominally be governed by the majority, but 
which would inevitably, and according to all precedents 
be manipulated by the ringleaders, and finally end in one 
of the most abominable aristocracies that the mind can devise. 
Oh ! we do not accuse these men of treachery in advanc- 
ing these wild and idiotic schemes, we merely reproach 
them with rashness, with hasty, unreasonable conclu- 
sions which time will prove satisfactorily to their 
mind. The People cannot expect to gain their freedom 
by impracticable and unreasonable measures, nor can 
they reach their purpose through a sanguinary revolution, 
which has invariably turned against them in the end. 



15 

We advise all men who advocate the doctrines which 
are published as " A Platform of the Socialistic Labor 
Party " to consider the following propositions, and. ask 
themselves whether they are realty endorsing principles 
which can better their condition. 

QUESTIONS : 

Do you not now suffer from a monopoly composed of 
the government, clerical, financial and editorial powers? 
Yes ; well, in what manner does the above monopoly 
make you suffer ? 1st, Because that monopoly has as- 
sumed a dictatorship over your individual and private 
rights, and prevents the lone citizen from making as 
much as he could by his labor, were he not molested 
and thwarted in most all his endeavors. What you 
want is individual protection. Ah ! the true laborer does not 
say to the government, protect us ; he says emphatically, 
"for Gods' sake, leave me alone, and I can get along ; I can 
earn my living if I have only my family and myself to 
support ; I can do that and I will, and if necessary I can 
work twenty-four hours to make mine happy, and I won't 
grumble at that. But I can't do it if you interfere with 
me and insist upon taxing me to support — besides my 
family — an army of official, military, commercial and 
clerical sinecurists. For God's sake leave me alone in my 
work, then I can live." This is the popular cry, "deliver 
us from governmental management," now the Socialists 
want more of it. 

No ! we are not Communists in this country ; to be sure 
there is a handful of men who preach those doctrines 
without anticipating the fact that the maxims they advocate 
must kill their object. These men apparently have not dis- 
covered the suicidal proclivities of their claims, when they do 
they will change their modus operandi effectively. There 
are also many who back up this Socialistic Platform, de- 
ceived by its better promises, but they must take the whole 
of it or reject its dangerous portions, and reorganize en- 
tirely, erecting a platform upon which sterling common sense 
may stand without danger or shame. We take it as it stands 
now, that every fourth plank only in this Socialist plat- 
form is sound and will hold the nail with which reason 
does its work. 

The People want no protection from the government. 
What they want is to prevent the government from 
protecting them as the government sees fit, and as the 
capitalistst and monopolist ingeniously suggests. For 
this purpose they must amend the laws. 

The People emphatically repudiate all propositions that 
smell of protection ; we have had enough of your protection. 



16 

What is the government to-day but an infamous protection 
— what does it protect ? its partizans ; that and even 
tvorse than that would close the career of a socialistic 
regime beyond any possibility of a doubt. 

We want a government that will never forget its obe- 
dience to fixed rules and a perfectly impartial and econom- 
ical administration, then the citizen can live. If a man 
by his industry, genious, talent and virtues can make a 
great deal more than his family requires, he should 
pay more taxes and bear a fair share of governmental 
expenses. If another man is a bad workman or a lazy 
fellow, we can't help that, we want laws to con- 
sider the interests of progress, merit, and individual 
worth, and not protective schemes to encourage pauperism and 
make the undeserving stand on an equal footing with the 
best and most useful citizens. 

Is there any chance for individual protection, has there 
ever been any provision made to secure to the citizen pro- 
tection against his powerful, and unjust, and intolerant 
neighbors ? No, absolutely none. Some people will tell 
you that such an office comes not within the province of 
legislation. Why ? because, say they, the laws are intend- 
ed to protect the masses, not individuals. Observe the 
imbecility of such a proposition; the masses — who are 
the masses? Why a multitude of workmen standing 
alone, working alone on their own hook to earn a 
living, and having against them large corporations, 
rings monopolies which never cease to swindle the 
workmen, unless the latter imitating the example of 
their inexorable employers, the capitalists, also form com- 
binations, labor leagues, for their own security. Why 
these labor leagues, and strikes, and revolutions? Be- 
cause the framers of our laws have been entirely ignorant, 
unwise, or unjust. So long as the law denies to the individual 
his rights, so long will revolution be excited to give the 
People "a temporary relief," — we say temporary because 
the People have never enjoyed a permanent enfranchisement, 
and they never can under the existing laws. 

To be sure, it will be advanced that there are an abund- 
ance of lawyers who would be only too glad to take up 
for individuals any just claims of theirs and prosecute 
them. May fortune save the citizen from such an expe- 
dient ; these lawyers are sharks, educated in a school of cor- 
ruption, and you can't trust ten per cent, of them. The 
practice of thelaiu is rotten; it amounts to a game of cheat, 
wherein " the lone man is invariably swindled" — even his 
counsel conspiring against him. 

The People pay for a protection which is promised and 
which is not forthcoming. " The remedy we propose is " 



17 

that " a Public Law Committee sliall be appointed " whose 
duty it will be to prosecute all claims of individuals who 
are oppressed by the unjust demands of monopolies or 
money-combinations. This committee shall be appointed 
by the Legislature and hold office so long as its services 
are well appreciated. The State government will guaran- 
tee to said committee an annual salary, and twenty-five 
per cent, of the damages obtained for a client will 
be retained by said committee to form a working 
capital for this Public Law Committee. This com- 
mittee will not refuse to examine any case presented to it 
by a citizen who is proved to be unable to protect 
himself, nor to prosecute such cases, which, in the opinion 
of said committee, are based upon legal and just claims. 

Of course we have not space here to give a complete 
"expose" of our plans, the essential point is to organize 
the " Public Law Committee," then its mode of manage- 
ment will suggest itself. 

There should also be a National Law Committee, ap- 
pointed by the House of Representatives, to prosecute 
claims of a national character, for citizens. 

We maintain that no permanent liberty can exist for 
the People, unless the above measures are adopted. 

CHAPTER THIRD. 

4th Commandment. 

chubch, state, military and civil governments shall 

have no relation with each other. 

Why ? Because there AEE a thousand different religious 
convictions and only ONE civil government for the People. 
Why ? Because both the military and the civil authorities 
cannot assume police duty at the same time. If the mili- 
tary power is to be entrusted with police duty, then our 
police force is an unnecessary extravagance. We would 
favor a semi-military police force, under the management 
of the civil authorities. 

Mr. Grant effectively introduced an innovation in our 
politics, or rather an usurpation that placed civil rights 
under the supervision of a bayonet rule. But Mr. Grant 
was a notorious outlaw in the radical sense of the 
word, that is, he defied the law and ignored civil rights 
entirely. Mr. Grant was nominally the President, but he 
did not preside, he governed — he governed as effectively 
as any monarch ever governed ; no one can dcubt it who 
has a knowledge of facts. 

A STANDING AEMY 
is a phantom that threatens civil rights perpetually. THE 



18 

AEMY as it is regulated in this country, at this date, is 
a very serious danger, BECAUSE the people do< not gov- 
ern its actions. With due respect for the wisdom and fore- 
thought of our ancestors, we consider the disposition of 
the army here not only positively idiotic, but entirely 
incompatible with the spirit of our political system. 

A well organized army is merely a machine governed 
by the word of command, which may or may not be in- 
spired by patriotic PRINCIPLES as we have seen. The 
term mutineer is terribly degrading to the soldier, while 
the term traitor cannot be applied to him when he is on 
duty, for the re ason that a soldier's action must be essen- 
tially ignorant of individual thought ; the General-in- 
Chief does the thinking, the soldier executes those 
thoughts ; hesitation would be mutiny ; the soldier does 
not hesitate, therefore under the present system a soldier 
may be obliged to trample civil rights under foot. He 
may defy the laws, sieze personal property, murder — in 
short, be a traitor to his country, and yet perform his 
duty as a soldier. Whc will deny it? 

We do not require a regular army in this country, our 
geographical position does not demand it ; our political 
faith discourages it. It is consequently objectionable and 
should be disbanded without delay. Our army is the 
PEOPLE. The management of the army under Grant 
proves to what extent it c^n be indiscrete and unlawful ; 
its costs to the People proves it to be a burthen ; its 
spirit has a decidedly bad influence in promoting aristo- 
cratic sentiments and disrespect to the sovereign power, 
the People. 

We require a very small military force to attend to the 
Indians and Mexican cattle thieves ; and this force should 
be handled very discretely by Congress. We want Con- 
gress to command it, not the executive. On the other 
hand, we require a strong navy to protect our commerce 
and make it a self supporting one. We would recom- 
mend that the men-of-war should do as much of our car- 
rying trade as possible. This would not interfere with 
their official or military duties, and would discourage the 
idleness peculiar to navy and military organizations. 

We would advocate the building of ships by the govern- 
ment to do a COMMEECIAL naval duty ; we would build 
these ships for speed, they are the best. Our recent in- 
ventions in war machinery prove the uselessness of these 
great iron vessels. The government in building these 
ships would really be investing the People's money in a 
most advantageous manner. These ships could be mili- 
tary above the water line and commercial below it. Such 
a navy would pay its expenses beyond a doubt, and pro- 



19 

fit besides, and would afford to our commerce a much de- 
sired impetus as well as a substantial protection upon the 
high seas. 

Let our Congress consider this question of " a Commer- 
cial Nayy." 

A national military system could be advantageously 
adopted, compelling each State to support according to 
its population, a certain number of troops, not in active 
service, but merely to instruct the citizens in the man- 
agement of arms. A citizen, for instance, should attend 
such instructions in his district for a term of say, one 
year, each citizen serving his time for such instruction 
and no exemptions, uniforms and such unnecessary ex- 
pense being avoided. 

Then in case of foreign war the government could call 
for a number of troops from each State, according to the 
population, and support such an army at the expense of 
the national government, and disband such troops imme- 
diately upon the cessation of hostilities. This Congress- 
ional Military Committee should appoint the Commander- 
in-Chief of said army and said officer should be at all 
times under the orders of said Committee. 

THE CHUECH AND STATE. 

Shake hands and infringe upon the citizen's private con- 
victions. This is entirely DESPOTIC. 

The church laws, regulations and modes of action, and 
the State laws should be strangers. 

Religion involves an act of faith, and the multitudin- 
ous convictions and beliefs are essentially of a private or 
personal character. 

It is difficult to discover in what respect the individual 
conviction of some men can impose a rule of action for 
an entire community, and yet that is what these FANATIC 
Sunday law idiots, claim. 

A citizen may believe in Christ, Mahomet, the sun, and 
in a variety of other authorities ; that is his right. If 
then that is his RIGHT, mark the inconsistency of this in- 
tolerant league of fanatics, which pretends to represent 
the intelligence of the country. 

They say to the citizen, you shall not open your wine 
rooms while we are performing our private religious du- 
ties to OUR God. 

We have the same right to say to them, you shall not 
attend to your Sunday duties, because in our opinion 
those duties are annoying ; you overcrowd the streets, 
your music annoys us, and your church bells are distract- 
ing. Then they answer, this is a Christian country and we 
Christians intend to govern the Sabbath as we understand 



20 

it. We deny that this is a Christian country so far as the 
cival law is concerned. We are glad it is so far as the 
People are concerned, because society has progressed 
more rapidly under that religious creed. 

But these Christians only speak for one portion or class 
of Christianity. There are other Christians who disap- 
prove of the intolerance advocated by these Sunday Law 
Maniacs. Therefore, it does not appear that the imposi- 
tion is endorsed by Christianity any more than it is by 
Mahommedism. 

It is a clear case of inquisition quite unworthy of this 
age. 

The civil laws have nothing whatever to do with per- 
sonal religious convictions, and the Sunday excise law is 
an abortion of special legislation, and is in accordance 
with neither civil nor religious interpretations of justice 
and charity. 

CONCEBNING OUE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

No religious teachings can be introduced without im- 
posing upon some persons an unauthorized and usurped 
power. 

We cannot too seriously caution the civil authorities 
against any favoriteism concerning religious ideas. You 
have no more right to read your Bible to a Democratic 
class than we would have to preach the Koran to your 
children. 

Public schools, it must be remembered, are for all sects. 
If the Constitution had specified that this government 
was to be conducted principally in the interest of the 
Episcopal Church, we maintain that the population of this 
country to-day would not be ten per cent, of its present 
size. 

Beligion is a question that concerns the private indi- 
vidual only. 

Preach it, you do well ; enforce it, you commit a crime ; 
you perpetrate another inquisition, such as drove your 
forefathers from their homes to seek here religious free- 
dom. 

The following remarks show to what extent some minis- 
ters of the gospel are opposed to civil rights. Words 
uttered by a notorious saint of the spiritur-rarnal class, 
he says, "I am interested in every thing that concerns the 
welfare of the human race." " Grant was the most sensi- 
ble president we ever had." A lie. "He is the very gen- 
ius of common sense." Another lie. " You fellows (the 
workingmen) don't know anything about oppression, 
though you are crying against it. It is the capitalists, the 



21 

business men who are ground to powder. I am a friend 
of the laboring man, &c." An infamous lie. 

The man who uttered these sentiments is a notorious 
swindle and a hypocrite ; he is supported by capitalists 
and hence his views. Let the People beware of these 
great intellectual lights, these ministers of the gospel that 
love humanity so much. Keep them out of your house- 
hold, anyhow that's safe, and if you want to be politically 
damned, disfranchised, follow their doctrines, which are, 
" if the capitalist slaps you on one cheek hold out the 
other, then if he knocks you down, why hand him your 
purse." That's religion on the half shell, nicely served up 
by intellectual clams. 

, Commandments 5th, 6th and 7th. 

SUFFRAGE. 

Whatever interpretation may have been attributed to 
the term Suffrage is a matter of secondary importance. 
What we find it to-day is amusing and distressing at the 
same time. 

Behold the formidable burlesque. Reference to the 
Electoral Commission imbroglio of imfamous memory. 
Behold a handful of knaves backed by Grant's bayonets, 
twisting the People out of their rights of suffrage in the 
most brazen faced manner. 

" If you'll be good," says this pack of traitors, "and do 
not make a fuss about the matter, we will give you a bet- 
ter chance at the next election. But this time, although 
we admit tha^ you have elected your candidate by a large 
majority, yet you see we cannot allow the People to rule 
yet — they are not ripe for such a post of trust, &c." Who 
can deny that this is precisely the case? 

Therefore, we can but smile contemptuously when we 
hear some of these great patriotic leaders of the Hayes 
-Grant tribe, declaring to the People that they are as free 
as air. General Sherman has a version regarding the 
People which is by far more sincere, when he says " the 
People is a mob, and the army is there to keep that mob 
in order." No, no, People of the United States, as you 
stand to-day, at this moment, you are not as free as the 
people of Russia. Do not fan yourselves with illusions 
and inconsistencies. See things as they are. They tell 
you you are free, throw the lie back at them, and take 
care of your next election ; look out for your vote, and 
vote every man of you. 

There is a powerful conspiracy against you. The gov- 
ernment, the banks, the army, the church and the press, 
aye, even a part of your Congress, all conspiring to hold 
you out of your just rights. Look to it ! 



22 

Touch not an arm, weapons have invariably turned 
against the People in the end. Belong to no party. Vote 
for principles, and if your representatives go back on you, 
dishonor them without noise or music, quietly. Look 
out for men who will tell you exactly what they will do. 
See that they do it, then back them up, but watch 
them, lose not sight of them, for they will swindle you 
perhaps. The citizen should know what principles he is 
yoting to support ; no other qualification is practicable ; 

The secrecy of the ballot is a political error, based upon 
unmanly sentiments. 

The voter must know the principles which his vote is 
intended to support, if he does not he is practically voting 
without intention, and his vote conceals the vote of an 
intelligent and deserving citizen. If he does not know 
what he is voting for, he has no right to vote. This is a 
very serious question, let the people attend to it. 

When a voter deposits his vote he must declare what 
principles he advocates with his tickets, if he cannot do 
that he must not vote. All citizens shall be compelled to 
vote ; they owe it to the country as well as their tax. 

SANCTITY OF THE BALLOT. 

The ballot after all is the essential distinction which 
exists between despotism and freedom. Destroy it and 
what is left ? A state of being dependent upon the whims 
of speculators and political demagogues. 

When votes can be purchased suffrage is entirely abor- 
tive of privilege to the People. 

If the ballot is not esteemed above all other privileges 
freedom is an imaginary condition. 

We may attribute most of our national troubles to the 
fact, that men generally look upon the ballot as a privi- 
lege but not as a duty — a sacred duty, which latter it un- 
doubtedly is. 

This careless appreciation of the ballot must continue 
as long as there does not exist a law compelling the citi- 
zen to declare his vote under penalty of fine. 

The vote is a power conferred upon the People ; it is 
their only safeguard against oppression. A citizen has 
certainly not the option to give or retain his support to- 
ward the liberty of the People, assuming that the major- 
ity will vote in its interest. Then it is clearly the duty of 
every member of that majority to pay his moral tax, or 
vote. If he fails he should be punished. 

This is a question of vital moment to us, it should be 
attended to immediately. 

Now officials are inaugurated, but not elected. 

An election at this period of our nationality amounts 



merely to a remarkable confusion of tickets, the result of 
which is generally known the day before the election. 
The election is governed by the previous administration, 
and a well managed coalition of the administration, the 
banks and the press generally wins. The People have an 
overwhelming majority. What of that ; the result is de- 
cided upon before a vote is cast. Now talk of free rights. 
The People will never be free until the administration 
abstains entirely FROM POLITICS. An office- 
holder is a public servant, he forgets it when 
he is in office. A public officer should not be 

Eermitted to vote nor influence politics during 
is term of office. Why? Because he assumes cer- 
tain trusts, not to perpetuate any particular poli- 
tical policy, nor to secure his re-election, he assumes 
his duties with the understanding, that he shall execute the 
laws impartially. Why ? Because he is paid, not by the 
Republican party, but by all the People. 

He is not a servant to the Republican nor to the 
Democratic party, but he is a servant to the People. Con- 
gress should attend to this matter. 

What, in fact, can be more unjust toward the People, 
more conducive of corruption in the civil service than the 
present political assessments made upon the salaries of 
government clerks? If they can afford to pay such assess- 
ments, if the clerks can spare this money for the purpose 
of defeating a fair expression of the Yox Populi, why, it 
occurs to us that Congress had better reduce those sal- 
aries, which appear to be more than sufficient. 

The entire government machine has gradually degen- 
erated to a species of gambling hell, the President being 
the banker, the office holders his compeers or accomplices 
in the noble game of disfranchising the People at large, 
and speculating on the vitals of our freedom. In this 
particular, mark the change operated by Grant and his 
gang, he went into office with the obvious determination 
of fleecing the People, and all his actions have proved it. 
Throughout his administration it was but a question of 
money, honors and red tape. Grant is par excellence an 
upstart, with this difference, that he practiced his games 
with public moneys, whereas the ordinary upstart gener- 
ally has money of his own to splurge with. Grant 
thoroughly demoralized what there was left of political 
morality in this country, and his contempt for the laws 
was as flagrant as his unblushing protection of public 
thieves was notorious. As a military man he was by no 
means a genius. A lucky man was he ; prodigeously for- 
tunate, but absolutely incompetent, stubbornly careful 
not to expose his ignorance, he generally kept his mouth 



24 

closed. As b general he was an ACCIDENT, m zecu- 

tive an He was ready to place 

- in Hie executive si b by^i of arms, if his 

legal adv; | ■_ :: xmrinCed him that the job conld 

be accomplished by foi ;z irfraad The essential point 
w stc event the People from overhauling his dishon- 

?.nd we believe that Hayes was placed w] 
he is merely to r BTery possible vestige of crime 
and fraud perpetrated by Grant an I ring. 

The People must insist npon being u serred " by 1 

:-:ration, not governed by it; 'Congress ilone has 
that privilege. This Eact is too generally ignored The 
President is tae,rely the ;"_:^: cooi ; : m and 

NOT THE EEEEE. COXGBESS IS THE RULING 
POWER 

CIVIL-SERVICE WITH A VENGE- 
ANCE. 
a eefezshesTt piece or rvFORXAx: ; : 

lie Collector :: the port of Xr^ Y:rk informs 
"that if we conld appoint officers who would always 
corr- honest, me rlass of officers wcnld be b 

dent ;'V €< and that it is estimated that by the -ry of 

incorrect figures: by the naval office, that mice has 
than paid its expenses. »e to his knowledge 

involving the snm of >20; anoth i se $•: Then 

he ingenuously assures us that the clerks who made 
m v " V. as he is pleased k term them were not ret ined 
in the service. >~:~ , is not this really refreshing? TLer_ 
we are informed by our trustworthy and eminent repre- 
sentative statesmen whe are I ::er our interests, 
"that in Washington they L;.v- ac record >f what it costs 
to run :Le custom house \ The People will 
imagine by this statement :: what degree of car 
and indifference t^eir interests re managed by : 
call- " si tesmen To this the Auditor in the Collector's 
OV aded, "that Lr might ssibly furnish the 
required information 

in — ,; D jwei — 

"By general irder from the rtment, I 

repo: tames weekly, sDmetim- :nly." "In 

New O-'.r ma I tonnd that the Larg additions k 

the pay rolls AT CERTAIN" TIMES "—election times, 
we presume. 

TLe people pay for the support of the government, and 
they have a right to instruct Ber 

A public official, upon taking the oath of office, will 
add : "And I further swear that I will not vote during 



25 

MY TEEM of office, nor will I attempt to influence 
politics. 

This condition is indispensable to an honest and impar- 
tial civil service, without it we will continue to be exposed 
to the same dangers and oppressions which have charac- 
terized the Eepublican administration particularly, but 
which all parties will practise if they have a chance. It 
is the occasion, the opportunity that conceives the crime ; 
remove the opportunity and you avoid transgression. 

If we accuse the Eepublican party of misdeeds under 
Grant's leadership, we at the same time disclaim any 
intention to condemn that party universally. Our 
remarks refer to those men only who were directly instru- 
mental in bankrupting this government morally as well 
as financially ; those men we do not spare because we 
despise them. We consider it a national duty to brand 
such men as Grant and his crowd with the censure they 
deserve ; such men must forever be disgraced, no matter 
what temporary success they may achieve, no matter 
how deceitfully a partisan Press records their actions ; for : 
"the evils that men do will live after them," in spite of 
those vile partisans who write up flagrant lies to delude 
a badly informed or indifferent public. 

In our condemnation of these men, and the practices 
with which they operated in 1876, their infamous rape 
upon our civil rights, we cannot refrain from branding as 
idiots, cowards or knaves all those who compounded this 
national felony by acknowledging in Congress both the 
reality of the fraud, and their quiet submission thereto. 

That Congress has placed upon its records a reputa- 
tion of the most unenviable character, and fortunate are 
those representatives who stood above the dirt that the 
majority stooped to eat ; let the People inquire into this 
act of treachery and cowardice ; let those men be recalled 
and place in their stead men, not insignificant puppets, 
moved by the cautious hand of obsequiousness to 
a monopoly. Their plea is the fear of revolution, 
and in their anxious desire to shirk their duty as repre- 
sentatives of the People they proved themselves revolu- 
tionists, silent, dark, secret revolutionists, that grasped 
our murdered liberty, and hastened to bury it for fear of 
exciting the just contempt of a betrayed People. Such 
representatives cannot be trusted; they should be 
removed. When the time comes for the People to 
tremble before the frown of their lackeys, they had better 
abdicate their sovereignty at once THAN BOAST OF 
FEEEDOM WHEN THEY AEE IN CHAINS. 

Now it is customary in speaking of a proposed candi- 
date for office, to say, " Oh ! he is beyond suspicion, he 



26 

would not rob the People if lie could, he is an honorable 
man, and would not avail himself of the temptations pe- 
culiar to official responsibilities." 

What temptation? that is the question. Why those 
temptations could not exist were the laws carefully drawn. 
That is the trouble. Ah ! you say you can trust him, per- 
haps you can. 

We will revise the law in such a manner that a ques- 
tion of trust will not be broached. 

How will we do it ? As follows : 

We will compel every official to execute the law upon 
the table, not under it. We will in the first place remove 
from his mind any political ambition, by excluding him 
from politics during his term of office, and we will require 
of him a true account of government business every week 
as explained hereinafter. Then we will not say we can 
trust the officer because we believe him to be honest, but 
because we have removed all incentive to dishonesty. 

According to the present system of publishing accounts 
we are informed for instance that the city treasury has 
received $67,000,000 00, and has expended $66,000,000 00, 
leaving a balance of $1 000,000 00, and a variety of general 
exhibits, equally vague. If the Comptroller of our finances 
says that he spent $30,000,000 00 for the support of the city 

government, including the State taxes and interest on city 
ebt, we would like to have some detailed accounts. Sup- 
posing that $2,000,000 00 was appropriated for the street 
cleaning department, and only $1,000 000 00 went in that 
direction, who will be the wiser ? No, we insist upon it 
ihat a detailed account must be given to the public, and 
these broad accounts are entirely unsatisfactory, and con- 
ducive to dishonesty on the part of those who have too 
big a temptation. When money is received or paid out by 
the public treasury, we want to know who paid it or to 
whom it was paid, and why ; we want in short, an intelli- 
gent and true account. 

Hereafter the People will watch their servants in office, 
4on't forget it 

The People must not blindly trust any one of their offi- 
cials, every experience proves that such confidence is un- 
wise. 'Tis the occasion that breeds transgression ; " re- 
move the occasion." 

What do the People do now ? This : They not only 
hand all their books, accounts and safe keys to their 
employees, but they absolutely know nothing about their 
own business, and cannot know whether their money has 
been properly or improperly used. They are working 
.like pack mules to support a government, the business of 
which they are completely ignorant, and, notwithstanding 



27 

the terrible experience they have suffered from their ne- 
glect in this respect, they still continue to remain as 
careless of their interest and as ignorant of governmental 
finances as they have been in the past. They should have 
an official weekly statement published for all the People 
and containing in detail all government business referring 
to Commandment 9th. The People have a decided right 
to such a statement, and they must insist upon having it. 



CHAPTER FOURTH. 

8th Commandment. 
TAXATION. 

This question, which has occupied the scientific thoughts 
of the world's best political economists, is, we believe, yet 
a DOUBTFUL QUESTION, a question which has not 
yet been solved in a manner calculated to advance the 
interests of the producing element, the People. 

No one will doubt that the burthen of taxation BEARS 
HEAVILY upon the producer and lightly upon the cap- 
italist ; that is an established fact, and we here recall our 
assertion that, " monopoly, that 'legal curse,' that associa- 
tion of the official, editorial, financial and clerical powers, 
ARRANGES TAXATION TO SUIT ITS INTER- 
ESTS at the People's expense." 

We consider only facts, and the theories of ten thousand 
partisan, scientific, political economists will not annihilate 
facts, nor prove that the People are fairly dealt with by 
their powerful and despotic neighbors, the monopolists. 

And we repeat it, and will over and over again, there is 
too much science and red-tape and extravagance. WE 
WANT SOME PLAIN COMMON SENSE and very 
little science in our political economy. 

There are two considerations regarding taxation which 
are indispensable to the People's interests. 

1. What amount of money is absolutely necessary to 
carry on the government. 

2. How shall taxation be imposed — upon what. 

In answer to the first question, the amount necessary 
will depend upon the spirit of economy with which Con- 
gress may be inspired. We doubt not that 50 per cent, 
could be fairly deducted from the present $236,964,326.80 
yearly governmental expenses. 

In answer to the second question, we would say that 
taxes should be imposed in such a manner that the indus- 
tries of the country would be impeded as little as possible. 
Now it is just the contrary. 



28 

In the first place, the legislation of the last sixteen 
years has been in the hands of capitalists, WHO MADE 
UP THEIR MIND TO ROB THE PEOPLE AS 
BEST THEY COULD, and they have accomplished 
their purpose, assisted in their task by a congress 
which did not represent the People. 

We will not follow the infamous course pursued by the 
Republican administration in its prodigal dishonesty and 
wholesale slaughter of our commerce and our industries. 
All are familiar with the roguish schemes concocted by a 
league of traitors to swindle an already badly pressed Peo- 
ple out of their very lite. 

Our object is to show how taxes should be imposed and 
how economy should be observed, so that the producing 
element may exist. 

After reducing the salaries of public officers, disbanding 
the army, and economizing in every possible direction, 
the expenses having been summed up and declared, then 
divide real estate, products and money into two classes, 
that is : 

1. THE NECESSARY COMMERCE. 

2. THE UNNECESSARY COMMERCE. 

In drawing the line between that which constitutes the 
NECESSARIES of life and that which is a LUXURY, 
or, in other words, something that we can readily do with- 
out, we are convinced that an intelligent Congress can 
easily discriminate. 

Upon the " unnecessary commerce " we would impose 
a primary tax of fifty per cent, on its intrinsic value be- 
fore placing the ordinary tax upon it, so that if the tax 
upon liquors, tobacco, fancy goods, luxuries of all descrip- 
tions was, say for tobacco, 25 per cent, revenue, we would 
make it 75 per cent. ; if the tax on liquors was 50 per cent, 
revenue, we would make it 100 per cent. ; if on fancy goods 
and articles of luxury a tax of 30 per cent, is imposed, we 
would make it 80 per cent, so that the unnecessary com- 
merce would pay always 50 per cent, more than the nec- 
essary commerce. 

It will be admitted that he who buyes luxuries is the 
best off pecuniarily. Then he is, of course, best able to 
pay taxes. Now we have discovered that he who is the 
best off pecuniarily is not the producer. He is the man 
who, comfortably seated at his desk or at a restaurant 
table, dabbles in the various productions of the market, 
and makes FIFTY DOLLARS A DAY WHERE THE 
PRODUCER CAN NOT MAKE TWO DOLLARS. Now, 
we do not object to the agent's excessive gains, but we in- 
sist upon it that if he makes (put it at a low figure) 100 
per cent, more on his capital than the producer can make, 



29 

why, he can afford to pay 50 per cent, more to the govern- 
ment than the producer pays. 

This is the only way in which the People can equalize 
that excessive and unfair power of the factor element or 
the capitalist, and discourage extravagance. This is the 
way to encourage the necessary commerce and discourage 
luxury. This is the way to live economically if you please, 
or pay well for extravagance if you are so disposed. 

Now, the next thing to do is to diminish the number 
of agencies upon one article, so that it may reach the con- 
sumer at the lowest possible figure. 

We believe that the commission merchant, or the party 
who receives the productions from the farmer or manufac- 
turer, in other words, we believe that the second hands 
should retail all productions. Goods should be retailed 
by the first parties who handle them after the mill agents. 
This arrangement would save at least two commissions, 
and would set 50 per cent, of the agents and brokers to 
work at producing. 

The history of the market now is about as follows : We 
have before us a producer, a broker, a jobber, a retailer, a 
consumer. The producer puts a material upon the market 
for the consumer, who stands ready to take it, at, say 25 
cents a yard. The broker (to whom the producer owes 
money), grabs it in bulk and offers to sell it at an advance 
of 25 per cent., and the jobber pays 32, the retailer pays 
39, and the consumer about 52 cents, or about 50 per cent, 
more than he should pay. 

At present, the producing element, the majority, creates 
all value and pays the taxes upon that value, besides the 
agent commissions. Now it will be advanced that the agent 
gives his time and labor in the negotiation, admitting that 
he gets paid 50 per cent, more than he deserves, and there 
are entirely too many agencies as there are too many offi- 
cials. It merely amounts to an army of sinecurists which 
the consumer or producer is compelled to support besides 
his own family ; who will wonder at the People's poverty 
under such conditions as these. When the People abso- 
lutely pay everything and create everything, they being 
barely allowed to exist for their trouble. 

If the producer creates all the wealth, and the agent 
and the gove? nment take in all the money, it is clearly 
just that these two latter powers should arrange between 
themselves to defray the expenses of the government. 
How is it now? Does the government economize, and does 
the agent pay taxes ? No ! The goverment spends its 
time concocting excuses foe taxation. The agent, whom 
we will designate as the capitalist is scheming to avoid 
paying taxes, and not satisfied with speculation in mer- 



30 

chandise, making the consumer pay for them fifty per 
cent, more than is necessary or fair he seizes the money 
also, and bv various tricks peculiar to Wall street gamb- 
lers, he makes the producer and consumer pay for one dol- 
lar three times its value ; then after he has become tired 
of business he retires and invests his fortune in exempted 

GOVERNMENT PAPER. 

Now, the amusing part of this business between the 
capitalist and the administration is its absolute imbeci- 
lity. This mercantile and official association after ex- 
hausting the very last drop of substance from their vict- 
im, the producer. This league of blood-suckers, these 
notorious shylocks stare in dismay at the goose they kil- 
led, which is not even fit to eat, so thin, so starved it is. 
They are surprised that the People who stood so long 
the martyrdom which was imposed upon them, should 
suddenly, without warning, gome to grief ? Oh, cry they; 

why did you not tell us you were going to die, we woulc? 

have sold out and saved fifty per cpnt. hard cash, if we 

only had had a suspicion of your death. 

There's where the laugh comes in ; but that laugh is so 
near a death rattle there is no fun in it. 

The producing element of this country must be relieved. It 
will not be relieved until the People assume their rights, 
and take the reins of government out of the hands of the 
Executive or the administration, or at least direct that 
administration themselves. 

The administration has for the last quarter century as- 
sumed a power — a license we would say — that the CON- 
STITUTION never conferred nor intended to confer 
upon it. 

This power was greatly increased under Grant, and 
stretched its influence to the limits of treason. Aye, trea- 
son it is to betray a People,, and the People have been 
betrayed by their executive department in a most fla- 
grant manner. 

Let the People see to it that proper men are sent to 
Congress. They want to be represented not bv ambi- 
tious bookworms, celebrated lights, who from the plat- 
form of their self-esteem, proclaim that unless you are a 
statesman you cannot understand your own interest. 

THE PKOTECTIVE SYSTEM 

Is a flagrant lie, with which the New England capitalist 
has contrived to swindle the producing element with gov- 
ernment aid. 

What is the protective tariff, what does it mean? sim- 



31 

this, it means, that notwithstanding our natural produc- 
ing advantages over Europe, notwithstanding our mechan- 
ical superiority, our market has been and is so extrava- 
gantly managed by that army of sinecure — factors afore- 
mentioned — and by all manner of wastefulness and want of 
system, that although we could produce material at twen- 
ty-five per cent, less than Europe, yet we find that Eu- 
rope can undersell us. Therefore, the protective tariff, 
instead of protecting as it claims, the industries of this 
country, has merely encouraged extravagance, wasteful- 
ness and monopoly ; and supported a commercial system, 
the fallacy of which we now behold. This protective 
Tariff made the New England manufacturing monopoly,and 
during its prosperity People erroneously supposed that 
the country was in a flourishing situation. WHERE IS 
IT NOW? and where are THOSE MONOPOLIES? 
how many of them can pay 25 cents on the dollar. ? If we 
want to protect the People we must compel the market to 
be economical and not add more commissions than are 
necessary to transfer material from hand to mouth. 

In Europe they are scrupulously economical. Were it 
not so they could not live. 

If we were one half as economical as the French, they 
could not sell us goods, even on a free trade basis. The 
reason why we have paid thousands of millions to France 
and England, is because we have had a protective tariff 
that remained a perpetual incentive for extravagance, and 
the higher the tariff the greater our extravagance. At the 
same time we are encouraging an inferior quality of mer- 
chandise, produced by our favored monopolists. 

We want no protective tariff and we want A NA TION- 
AL MONEY. If England doesn't want our money we 
don't want its goods. We want to economise. We want 
the laborer to buy the necessaries of life without having to 
support an army of lounging factors. 

When the laborer can buy the NECESSARIES 01 
LIFE fifty per cent, less, he can work on smaller wages, 
but the monopolists wants his protective tariff — his gov- 
ernment support — and at the same time he wants the la- 
borer to WORK FOR THE LOVE OF GOD and his 
country. Now wonder at Communism, the lunacy of 
desperation. 

COMMUNISM. 

All those who talk about Communism and the dangers 
of this insignificant element in this country, are merely 
political demagogues or ignoramuses. THERE IS 
NO COMMUNISM AMONG OUR TRUE WORK- 
MEN. All they ask is to be allowed to exist and pay a 



32 

fair share of the tax. They do not want to support 
THAT LEGAL CURSE, MONOP OL 7, until the end 
of time. 

Communism amounts to about this : a People governed 
by an aristocracy or despotic law, seeing no remedy for 
their thraldom, being entirely uneducated in the whole- 
some thoughts that inspire true freemen, unacquainted 
with the principles which compel a government to submit 
to the VOX POPULI, these People become desper- 
ate, and in their desperation which would bring tears to a 
heart of stone, they advocate mad schemes, anything ; like 
the drowning man they CLUTCH AT A STRAW. 

We proclaim that there is not as much Communism in 
this country as there is Monarchism, and we predict there 
are more servile curs among the monopolists who would 
kiss the feet of Grant as their sovereign, than there are 
men who would vote a Communistic ticket. 

The People know what statesmen of this age have done, 
they have followed them and they have seen the result of 
their conclusions. It is useless to name here all those 
men who, WITH HONORABLEbefore their name, have 
left DISHONORABLE behind it. ^ We will not recapi- 
tulate the idiotic verdict of eight eminent lawyers and the 
argument of fifty more, which claimed that, though em- 
powered by the People to investigate whether the Peo- 
ple had been robbed or not, they, these eminent judges, 
these honors, these paragons of SUPERIOR INTELLI- 
GENCE, these statesmen, had no right to look at evi- 
dence. These men are called statesmen. We call them 
fools or knaves, if the former, they should resign, if the 
latter, they should be impeached. Fine statesmen, in- 
deed. Nay, what we want are plain, honest and intelli- 
gent men. THEY CAN understand the interest of the 
People. These so called statesmen have failed to work in 
that direction. We judge by ACTS, not by theories. 

These Statesmen demonetized silver in the interest of 
capital, these statesmen repudiated the government money 
by refusing to take it for duties, these statesmen have 
kept the southern states under Grants foot and prevented 
the recuperation of our commercial relations witli that im- 
portant portion of the country ; these statesmen have 
passed their time in Congress stirring up the bad blood 
of sectional, religious, and political animosity ; these 
statesmen have, finally, disgracefully, cowardly, subser- 
viently crawled before FRAUD, apparently unable to speak 
a word for the People against a league of traitors which 
they feared. 

Thai's what these statesmen have dor.e, and that's what the 
People don't want. 



33 

PEOPLE! 

Send as your representatives to Congress, men who un- 
derstand your interests. Send not a capitalist nor mono- 
polist. Then if the capitalist wants to be represented in 
Congress, all those in the United States might elect one 
representative by all forming a compact and inhabiting 
the same district. 

'Tis the Peoples turn now. Do not elect a man who is 
a capitalist, because he has a constitutional inpediment in 
his judgment regarding political economy and fair play. 
Elect men who can promise to back the People's interests, 
and watch them incessantly. Do not lose sight of them. 
Make them report. If they go back on you, recall them, 
and, as we suggested in Article 10th, send in their place 
the lieutenants whom you appointed. The statesman, in 
the popular acception of the word, is apparently he who 
can effect a parliamentary monkey-shine — in other words, 
a man, who, having by experience learned the ins and 
outs of parliamentary law, can corner an opponent and 
obtain an advantage upon the floor, to the detriment, per- 
haps, of a just and legal claim. That is what they call a 
statesman, one who knows the ropes, aroper-in, one versed 
in diplomatic legerdemain, a rogue in short. 

We want no more of that trash. Go, ye great statesmen, 
go blow your scientific brain against reason and honesty, 
and it will fall to pieces. 

When we say the People want good, plain, honest, in- 
telligent men, we mean men who have proved valuable to 
the cause of progress. We would not exclude men from 
office because they were well-read, nor because they 
have means of their own, yet these are not qualifications 
which, in our opinion, are really valuable to the People's 
best interests in Congress. We believe that, particularly 
at this period of our nationality we want to be represented 
by the STEELING COMMON SENSE of which Ameri- 
cans were once proud, and justly proud to boast. 

What we want is economy and simplicity in the admin- 
istration—aye, even frugality. It must commence there ; 
the People will follow suit. 

No more RED-TAPE, no more PERQUISITES, no 
more SINECURES, no more DISTINCTIONS to officials, 
such as your Honor, your Excellency, etc., small salaries 
and strict accounts rendered. The representative will be 
simply John Smith, Representative, or Sam Brown. Presi- 
dent, his actions conferring upon him the only honor he can 
enjoy among us. 

AND, BEYOND ALL, WE WANT NOT MILITARY 
EXECUTIVE. Military instincts and civil duties are an- 
tipodes. 



34: 

We have paid dearly for our experience with military 
men, and we believe the People will not be anxious to 
repeat that experience. Grant capped the climax of mili- 
tary despotism in this country, We have been satiated 
with martial bombast and rub-a-dub-dub nonsense. A 
soldier appears to be an overgrown boy, who cannot for- 
get his juvenile inclinations to take the law in his own hand. 
Military systems do not indicate a high mental condition. 
The more enlightened men become, the more they despise 
martial bombast, which would shrink into insignifi- 
cance were it not for the consciousness it has of the mis- 
chief it can operate. Take away those mighty engines of 
war that do such slaughter, take away the arms from an 
army, and what a sad picture, what a helpless mass. Sol- 
diers now-a-days are generally men who cannot earn a 
living in the usual manner, so they are fed and clothed by 
the government to be made targets of ok to fire at the 
People. We want no army, or at least the smallest possi- 
ble one, and never for police duty. 



CHAPTER FIFTH. 

9th Commandment. 

the press and the people — its political influence — 
public records — editorial demagogueism. 

Since the notorious and disgraceful expose of the Grant 
Bing, the Tweed Bing, and various other famous con- 
spiracies, the People ask themselves, " How is it, that the 
press, which is so very subtle in discovering all these crimes, 
and so vain in making them public, should wait until the 
very last hour to do so ?" The People can't understand 
why these facts do not come out before all the money has 
been secured by the thieves? 

Of course there are reasons why the press might be ig- 
norant of the facts until the very last cent is taken from 
the People. Of course, there are excuses that may be ad- 
vanced to explain this delay in giving publicity to crime. 
We have heard, however, that sometimes the press waits 
to ascertain whether its services may not be as profitably 
employed by the opposite parties (the thieves). We have 
heard about these little POLITICO— COMMEBCIAL 
BETAINEBS, where the press has either remained silent 
or has taken sides with these public plunderers for con- 
siderations, we presume, more valuable in its estimation 
than mere patriotic notoriety. Unfortunately, honesty, 
honor and virtue do not appear as conspicuous charac- 



35 

teristics of this age. The multitude of disgraceful failures, 
which an unjust and special law known as the BANK- 
R UPT LA W, has done not a little to encourage, are, in- 
deed, sufficient warning to place the people on the qui-vive. 
VIGILANCE BEGETS SECURITY. If private cor- 
porations of high standing can astound their creditors by- 
offering 25 cents on the dollar of what they owe them, if 
the local and national governments can surprise the peo- 
ple by announcing all at once that, owing to the misappro- 
priation of public moneys, the public debt must be in- 
creased fifty per cent., why, then we ask, what is the press 
good for ? Does it give us an account of the government 
business ? Does it anticipate crime by publishing irregu- 
lar proceedings which are familiar to the rings and their 
employees ? Does it, this free, patriotic press, back up 
the interests of the People ? N? ! it does not. 

The press, generally speaking, is not free. It is a com- 
mercial — political evasion, like our suffrage, used by 
capitalists and monopolists to delude the People and 
secure dominion over them. 

DEBTOES AND CEEDITOES. 

The Bankrupt Law, which died of its innate rottenness, 
was a powerful incentive to theft, and was another abor- 
tion of Eepublican special legislation. A Stay Law could 
be advantageously adopted to regulate in a fair manner 
the liquidation of debts, as follows : Upon the failure of 
an individual to meet his obligations, appoint a receiver, 
who will at certain specified periods collect of the debtor, 
say 25 per cent, of the net profits he (the said debtor), 
may have realized, these collections to continue at speci- 
fied dates until the debt is entirely satisfied. And these 
debtors should under oath and bond, declare their inten- 
tion to pay at specified dates, 25 per cent, of their net 
earnings, which they will hold subject to the order of the 
creditor or his representative. In this manner, dishonor- 
able failures would become nearly extinct, as there would 
be no money in them, and honest men could gradually, 
and without interfering with their business, pay up all 
they owed. Those who objected to this rule, if it be- 
came a law, should have their property confiscated and 
sold to satisfy their creditors. 

Of course, this suggestion is crude, and should be 
shaped properly. 

But we have not finished with the press. We say the 
press does not represent the People ; it represents a cer- 
tain element that governs the People. That element is 
FOECE OF MONEY, FOECE OF AEMS, FOECE OF 
TYEANNY, force of minority. There are some excep- 



36 

ions, we admit, to this rule, but the exceptions are gen- 
erally insignificant, small circulation and no money or in- 
fluence. 

If the People want to know what is going on in their 
government, they must support their own medium, for 
the great American free press is supported by the capital- 
ist, and will only enlighten the People when it finds it 
profitable to do so. 

What can prove it more conclusively than the recent 
attitude of the press regarding the financial question? 
When the interests of the BONDHOLDEB or the cor- 
poration, or the monopolist, or any one who can pay, is 
attacked, the press is wrapt in the eloquence of a bois- 
terous indignation. When, on the other hand, a POOR, 
DOWN-TRODDEN PEOPLE are being gradually but 
surely starved out by a tyrannical oppression, this great, 
free American press is silent, choked with an ingot of 
gold. The press is contemptible as a political medium ; 
as an historical record of passing events it may be in- 
structive and interesting, but when it dabbles in politics, 
look out for foul play ; then it is treacherous and vile, 
because it is a lackey to capitalists. 

The press has been instrumental in subduing the na- 
tive-metal, the pride and honor of the American people. 
It is a dirt eater. 

Tne press, by an ingenious misrepresent! on of facts, can 
hold the People in ABSOLUTE BONDAGE, and with 
an intelligent coalition of the clerical, financial civil and 
editorial powers, the People will look in vain for redress. 

This is not a warning ; it is a fact, and we must extri- 
cate ourselves from this mire into which we have uncon- 
sciously sank, gradually. It cannot be done at once — 
impossible ! Yet we MUST creep out of it. 

To show to what extent the press may misrepresent 
facts, or, in other words, lie, we refer to the elaborate 
praise conferred upon Grant by a New York journal. Who 
pays for it and who cares for it ? That is the question. 
This journal is as enthusiastic in its COMMENDATION 
of that man to-day, as it was emphatic in its condemnation 
of the same individual but yesterday. Why ? Because, 
no doubt, there is money in it. 

Any one who will take the trouble to refer to certain 
past records of this journal, will appreciate the incon- 
sistency of its present attitude. Many of its editorials have 
condemned the man as a USUBPEB— aye, A TYBANT, 
accusing him of protecting public plunderers, and wil- 
fully evading the law. Also, of unconstitutional acts of 
which Grant was notoriously guilty. Indeed, if we are 
not mistaken, this journal, for a time, dwelt upon the 



37 

question of impeachment, which, no doubt, would have 
been advanced seriously by Congress, had not the Senate 
been packed with Grant's partisans at that time. 

No, the press is a partisan of the most servile kind. 
Pay me well and T! will lie — that's its motto ; 'tis the 
demagogue par excellence. 

The People have a right to know where, when and how 
their money goes. To hear government officials talk, one 
might infer that these funds really belong to the adminis- 
tration, and the People were merely a mob, as General 
Sherman says. Well, we predict that that mob pays him 
now more by half than he will receive after the next Presi- 
dential election. That mob employs him to do what ? 

Military men are, however, to a great extent excusable 
for their mental deficiency concerning civil rights, because 
th^y have been brought up in a school of discipline, in 
that fanatic atmosphere known as military glory. Mili- 
tary men are very funny, ; these Don Quixotes unfortu- 
nately labor under the illusion that all look upon them as 
they are pleased to look upon themselves. 

Management of a Public Peess — its Functions. 

The NATIONAL PUBLIC JOURNAL should be 
managed by three editors chosen by the House of Eepre- 
sentatives, two of whom shall belong to the majority 
side of the house. 

The ST A TE P UBL1G JO URNAL should be managed 
in a similar manner by the State Legislature. 

The CITY PUBLIC JOURNAL should be managed 
by the Board of Aldermen in a like manner. 

These journals will contain only matter interesting to 
the governmental services and business. Politics will be 
treated in a universal sense, such, for instance, as the 
publication of the platforms of the various parties, and 
upon which no criticism shall be made. 

This public press will explain to the people the 
principles upon which the various political theories 
are based, leaving to the People and the commercial 
press their discussion. All moneys received and 
paid out will be published ; also a detailed account of the 
transactions, where and when paid or received for what, 
the nest highest bid to contract-price, the parties to whom 
paid, etc. 

By these means, the people might have their interests 
communicated, and avoid the systematic gag of a com- 
mercial — editorial monopoly, supposed to be a free press. 
Concluding our remarks upon the great American free 
press, and in corroboration of our statements concerning 



38 

its servile submission to fraud, we would point out the 
fact that one journal only in New York has had the cour- 
age to condemn the Hayes fraud. How long it may con- 
tinue that worthy task, is a problem which is too full of 
speculation to be encouraging. 

WE DO NOT BELIEVE in a patriotic commercial 
press ; it is entirely too dependent upon capital for that. 
Most every one of the principles here advocated for the 
people have been REJECTED by the great American free 
press. Draw your own conclusions from this fact. 



CHAPTER SIXTH. 
ARTICLE II.— MONEY IS THE SIGN OF VALUE. 

Money is a circulating SIGN, to facilitate the transfer 
of merchandise. 

Taking a broad view of it we will divide the wealth of 
the world in two parts, money and merchandise. Money 
is the sign, merchandise is the material. Money is the 
moral value, and merchandise is the intrinsic value, they 
are readily exchanged, but there is an essential difference 
between money and merchandise. The former cannot 
change an iota in its value, the value of the latter is gov- 
erned by supply, demand and quality. 

We are now considering a NATIONAL MONEY, and 
do not consider the preference of people for one kind 
of material or another. If we want French goods and the 
French want gold in payment and our credit on French 
books is not at par, why we will have to pay the French a 
premium, that is clear. But if our credit is good, and we 
sell the French as many or more goods than they sell us, 
it is quite evident that they would as leave accept our 
paper as our gold, however, as we said before, the prefer- 
ences or prejudices of governments or people, have abso- 
lutely nothing to do with the actual meaning of the word 
" money." 

Money is merely a representative of value ; it is a title, 
a moral obligation, a figure, it carries a promise to pat 
with it, it signifies one hundred cents' worth, everyone 
knows what one hundred cents will buy, they can know 
just as well what a dollar stamp can buy. But destroy 
that stamp on a silver dollar, melt it for instance, then let 
some one find a large silver mine, which is not impossible, 
and as plenty as iron, then what will your bit of silver be 
worth, that is the question, you lost that dollar or 99 
parts of it when you melted it, now your silver is worth 
10 cents a pound, you can't get a roll of bread with your 



39 

silver, had you left the stamp on it you could have pur- 
chased ten good sized loaves with it, that is the difference 
between money, the stamp, and merchandise, the material, 
one is permanent, the other is subject to supply, demand 
and quality. Merchandise is good money for semi-civil- 
ized people, to those people who despise the face of money 
and cry for merchandise, intrinsic value, we would submit 
the following: Which would you rather have to stoee 
away, a goveenment pkomise or merchandise ? Merchan- 
dise you use as a general medium for speculation, but the 
goveenment peomise you always fall back upon as a safe 
investment, on the principle that if the government fails 
there will be nothing available in the country for payment. 
You know that the government will compel the people to 
pay by taxing them, and if the government can't pay, how 
can the people ? The capitalist here is not wise, for if the 
people are annihilated, so is the government. The capit- 
alist, not satisfied with abusing the people, must, it 
appears, exhaust them entibely. 

The monopolist says to the administration : " I will 
lend you money upon condition that you follow my in- 
structions, i. e. I will give you gold for your papee, but 
you must allow me to eegulate the value of that paper, 
and manage that business as I please." That is what the 
administration has done and that accounts for the pbesent 
ceisis. The worst of it is that these home speculators on 
the vitals of the people are as heartless as the most indif- 
ferent foreign holder of our indebtedness, and, like Shy- 
lock, they want their pound of flesh, no less, yet how 
about the blood, you know, and the goose and the EGG 
question ? 

Thus the administration and its compeers, the capital- 
ists and speculators, drink with gusto the death sweat oe 
a stabving weetchedness, and grumble at its demise after- 
ward. Here is a picture for you. The government issues 
a dollar stamp, it promises that it is one hundred cents, 
no less, never will be less, otherwise who would accept it ? 

The laborer works a day, a hard day's work, he has a 
wife and six children, he must feed them, he will, he will 
get a dollar in the evening — he is contented. That day a 
dozen Wall street loungers in the confidence of the admin- 
istration buy up all the gold they can lay their hands on. 
The merchant wants gold because the government has ee- 
pudiated its peomise, and insists upon being paid duties in 
gold so as to pay the bondholder. There is no gold. Oh 
my ! Then the merchant goes to the Wall street man, and 
offers him two greenbacks for one gold dollar. No, that 
is not enough. Three, then. Well, they will take three 
greenbacks for one gold dollar. Then the merchant 



40 

charges that to the consumer, and doesn't care a conti- 
nental d . But the laborer comes for his pay, and the 

merchant says to him : I can give you but 33 1-3 cents, 
my good man, and he explains all about the Wall street 
sharks and the government thieves, etc. But, says the 
laborer, I can't keep my faimily from starving on 33 cents, 
33 cents for eight persons, my dear, sir, to-morrow you 
must pay me three paper dollars for my days work. I will 
not do it, says the merchant, and the laborer starves. Now 
wonder at Communism. Communism is a form of insan- 
ity, but centralization and monopoly is a form of murder, 
the first, occasioned by desperation, the latter inspired 
by a lust and avarice. Under the Bepublican administra- 
tion, money has been an idiotic scheme, planned by the 
government to ruin the masses and enrich a favored few. 

If money was not a moral obligation, certified by the 
government, the people would not accept it. 

The capitalist has made money merchandise to suit his 
purpose, he has done so without authority, and the gov- 
ernment has conspired with him against justice and com- 
mon sense. Now these conspirators must be put down. 
Don't forget who they are : 1, the Capitalist. 2, the Offi- 
cial. 3, the Press. Of course the government manages 
the law, and verdicts are found to suit the interests of 
this conspiracy. 

The way to put down this conspiracy is to put it out ; 
it cannot be done otherwise. Put those bloated blood 
suckers out at the next election ; don't fall. You have 
no time to lose, make no noise about it neither. Then send 
to Congress men who will legislate for you awhile. They 
will soon put an end to those practices by which the peo- 
ple have been gradually made pack-mules ; carrying their 
own property for a monopoly. 

But in the name of your future, if you would avoid a 
repetition of your sad history, which will repeat itself so 
long as the existing laws are unrestrained, watch your 
ballot box, let it be sacred ; if a man is found tampering 
with it crush him in the act quietly. He is not worth 

HANGING WHO WILL DEPRIVE THE PEOPLE OF THEIR FRANCHISE, 

and to think that those men who did this dastard busi- 
ness here lately in Louisiana, Florida and elsewhere, are 
those notorious champions of civil rights, who for the 
last sixteen years have been preaching the rights of men 
at the ballot box. These Iagos are now in a terribly 
compromising situation. Let the streams of inquiry and 
evidence flow from whatever direction the^v may, they 
only bring back upon those men, the floating trash of 
their criminality. 



41 

12th Commandment. 
Nominal Distinctions, Titles, Honoks, Eed Tape. 

Let men be distinguished by their acts and not by 
titles. If the gratitude of the public is not strong 
enough to distinguish a man in public esteem no title 
can do it. 

There is the difference between men and money, the 
former should be valued by their intrinsic value, not by 
their tittles. 

All titles should be avoided in this country ; they are a 
pretext to borrow without security. 

There are so many honorables now-a-days, that we are 
now looking for a name by which to designate the few 
honest political men we have left from the wreck of the 
constitution. 

A man is distinguished truly by the services he may 
render his country. We find the vilest rogues with 
honorable before their name, and there it is by accident 
or by reason of an absurd custom. 

A title means nothing ; let us abolish it. It has an 
evil tendency, it smells of forgery, or borrowing money 
under false pretenses. 

It confuses the record of men who occupy positions of 
trust and responsibility. 

"We say that nominal honors and distinctions are objec- 
tionable, and that if a man cannot reap the laurels of 
public approbation by his services, all the titles in the 
world will not distinguish him honorably in that respect. 
And many of these so-called honorables were they to meet 
an impartial exe@ution if the law would have their heads 
shaved and wear striped clothing. 

The People have been deluded sufficiently with this 
COMEDY OF ERRORS in the farce of titles. 

The fact is, there is an involuntary awe attached to the 
atmosphere when the Hon. Mr. this or his Excellency 
Mr. that is whispered about in a crowd. Ah, then, those 
servile feelings peculiar to the credulous, the man who 
respects all he can't understand, ARE ALMOST AN 
EPIDEMIC. Men crowd forward and when the so called 
Hon. this or that utters the first cough to clear his throat, 
an overwhelming applause anticipates the absurdity with 
which he is going to hoodwink his hearers. This feeling 
of respect among the People for men who have but a title 
to offer as credentials, is to be deplored, it proceeds to a 
great extent from a conscious ignorance of the subject 
which the orator is treating. Are confused, overawed by 
the title and the red tape with which demagogues gen- 
erally decorate themselves. 



42 

This is about the story : A man by certain influence is 
ballot-boxed — we do say elected because that word is obso- 
lete in this age — into Congress, all he does there a lad of 
twenty could do, i. e. gets $5,000 a year for a few months of 
lounging in Congress to speculate, when he returns to his 
home of course he is no longer a pugilist, let any one call 
him so, and they will find out. He is no longer a gambler, 
or a liquor dealer, nor anything but the Honorable Mr. so 
and so. Oh ! the People must not look at him in a usual 
way, oh no. There is a certain — we know not what — a smell 
of the Government about him which impregnates the ordi- 
nary mind and intoxicates it. Distinctions of this kind 
should be entirely done away with. 

What the People want is a sound upright man with a firm 
determination to represent the interests of his constituents 
and the knowledge that his acts alone will endorse him in 
their estimation. 
Then on the floor of the House this man will stand up and do 
his duty like a workman, not like a distinguished titled 
automaton, but like a man who has the People's grievan- 
ces to express and their rights to maintain. When he re- 
turns to his home the People will rush up to him and em- 
brace him, and say thanks Jack or Tom for your manly 
labor in our interest, thanks old fellow, and he will feel like 
a man who owns his title, that of bold Jack or honest Jack, 
or Jack the bold. 

We want no marks of distinction in this country, they 
are conducive of extravagance and fraud. They remind you 
of counterfeit money, or an unauthorized face. 

Titles are reminiscences of the feudal ages, and were gran- 
ted frequently by the meanest kind of authority to meaner 
subjects for the slightest pretext. Why we in this advanced 
and enlightened age should pay honor to titles granted by 
a clown to a knave, or vice-versa, is a somewhat interest- 
ing question. 

Foreigners who are infected with this title — disease gener- 
ally may be tolerated, we have no objection to call them any 
name they please, although it is evident that their title can- 
not add to their actual worth in our estimation. But Amer- 
icans, who are essentially democratic, or should at least 
be, in their views, cannot assume the paraphernalia of dis- 
tinctions, titles and honors, without exciting the pertinent, 
and farcial inquiry. 

"What in the devil is he Honorable about ? Titles in 
this country are simply idiotic. "Let Congress abolish 
them entirely, ami let men stand upon their 
own merit* and not upon a superficial dis- 
tinction, conferred by a general license. 

o 2 19 ov 1 



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